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CMU Approved
Approved: Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Baby
By Aly Barchi | Published on Monday 11 June 2012
Having surpassed his shambolic ‘no-fi’ beginnings (a cluttered miscellanea of tapes, compilations, EPs and albums – both solo and with his band Haunted Graffiti – dating back to 1996) via last year’s freak-pop opus ‘Before Today’, Ariel Pink has just announced his new LP and second release via 4AD, ‘Adult Themes’.
His signing to the London label in 2009 would appear to have played a pivotal part in (or at least, coincided with) the broadening of Pink’s outlook as an artist and songwriter, from what Pitchfork panned as the “scribbled, vain, potent, and half-assed” sounds of 2007’s ‘Scared Famous’ (see psych oddment ‘Are You Gonna Look After My Boys’) to the albeit still-slapdash dreamscape of ‘Before Today’ paean ‘Round & Round’, so mild and rich in melody it’s even suited to the PS22 children’s choir’s songsheet. Needless to say, it’s been quite a trip.
It’s as Pink says of the new LP in this Spin interview: “Sonically, it’s comparable. There are definitely not any links to my lo-fi origins. It’s so diverse but so different from anything I’ve done before. In a sense, it’s really the record I wanted to make back when I made ‘Before Today’, but couldn’t due to pressures and different factors. We had time to let our hair down and try new things”.
A forerunner to ‘Adult Themes’ – out 21 Aug – is ‘Baby’, a collaboration with Stones Throsigned character Dam Funk. It’s a version of an unsung original by ‘bedroom soul’ bros Donnie & Joe Emerson, whose vintage 1979 debut ‘Dreamin Wild’ is due for reissue via Light In The Attic on 25 Jun. Dean Blunt and Inga Copeland, aka Hype Williams, also paid homage to ‘Baby’ on their new record ‘Black Is Beautiful’, making this somewhat of a niche cover of choice for the discerning alternative act.
Listen to Ariel Pink and Dam Fun’s light touch on ‘Baby’ over at 4AD.com.